Dimensional Separation
by serahrose
Summary: After an unfortunate event, Syaoran and co. become separated across dimensions and must survive on their own. This fanfiction was written in a partnership with Ebony56 and continues from manga chapter 188. R&R please.
1. Dimensional Separation

**Chapter 1** - Dimensional Separation

"Do any of you have any idea how long these forsaken ruins continue for?" Kurogane complained to the rest of the group. Syaoran, Fai, Kurogane and Mokona were travelling through the ruins of the Country of Clow in order to uncover the truth about what had recently been happening to the country.

"Well, if you're tired, Kuro-puu, you could always just wait here," Fai said jokingly, poking Kurogane in the ribs and chuckling.

"Shut up," Kurogane threatened, "and for the final time, my name is _not_ 'Kuro-puu'!"

Mokona laughed and pointed at Kurogane from Fai's shoulder. "Ha ha!" Mokona giggled, "Kuro-puu is angry!"

At this, Kurogane's brow furrowed and he stared angrily at Mokona, shaking his fist in Mokona's direction, growling "Be quiet, you white manju!"

Fai, Kurogane and Mokona continued bantering back and forth for quite some time, while Syaoran remained silent, lost in his own thoughts.

Suddenly, Syaoran stopped in mid-step, held out his hand to silence the rest of the group (Mokona had jumped onto Kurogane's head and was bouncing up and down to annoy him) and said, "Listen. Something is coming!" He had no more than gotten the words out when a dimensional rift opened before the group and exposed to them the cause of their current despair: Fei Wong Reed.

Something akin to hatred boiled up inside Syaoran as he recognized at last the person standing before them. "You!" he growled.

Fei Wong Reed grinned. "Me," he confirmed, "How nice to see you again. The last time I saw you, Syaoran, you were asleep in my very own residence."

Syaoran said nothing, but continued to glare at Fei Wong Reed. Kurogane, however, had noticed the bat-like insignia on the robes that Fei Wong Reed was wearing. He would have recognized it anywhere. His eyes narrowed once again, and he drew his sword, pointing it in Fei Wong's direction.

"You're the one who killed my mother," Kurogane snarled, "and this time, I will not let you get away!" At this, with blade held high, he darted toward the source of his anger. As he drew closer, Fei Wong Reed held out his hand and revealed another dimensional rift between himself and Kurogane.

In confusion, Kurogane cried, "What the - ?" but was not able to finish speaking before he was pulled into the dimensional rift against his will. In next to no time, it closed, leaving no trace.

In a flurry of despair and utter chaos, Syaoran, Fai and Mokona lunged toward Fei Wong Reed.

"What have you done with Kurogane?" Syaoran cried.

Fei Wong grinned again. "Your merry little group has thwarted my plans for the last time, Syaoran. I have sent Kurogane to another dimension and I have no hesitation in telling you that I plan to do exactly the same to you."

Before either of the members of the group could react to what Fei Wong Reed had said, still more dimensional rifts appeared beneath the feet of each of the remaining members of the group. Syaoran was pulled down into the space that had appeared beneath him; Mokona, who had been on Fai's shoulder since the appearance of Fei Wong in their midst, jumped from Fai's body as he, too, was pulled into one of the rifts. As Mokona jumped, it was also pulled into a rift which was suspended directly above the one that Fai had fallen into.

Once Fei Wong Reed was the only person left standing in the ruins, he let out a sinister laugh as all of the rifts were drawn closed, including the one that encased him.

To be continued...

—

Disclaimer: Neither Ebony56 nor Serahrose are the owners of the Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle anime/manga series.


	2. The Cosmic Journey

**Chapter 2** - The Cosmic Journey

As though the sky had begun to sag beneath its own weight, a small section detached itself from the main sky and drooped down in a bubble. Upon hitting the ground, the bubble burst open to reveal Kurogane, who had been trapped inside by the dimensional rift.

Slowly, Kurogane stood up from the ground and surveyed his surroundings. To his surprise, he was floating on a small piece of earth in what seemed to be space. All around him were stars and other small fragments of planets. He slowly walked to the ledge of the planetoid he was standing on, and noticed that beneath it was a large, bright glowing star, much like a sun. His gaze was drawn to one of the larger planetoids. On it, he noticed a rather unorthodox building which he took to be a castle of some sort. Taking into account his semi-weightlessness in this space-like environment, he jumped across neighbouring planetoids until he reached the one on which the castle was standing. The castle was pink and purple in colour. Large towers extended from the central building, which was spherical and covered in windows. Several of the towers jutted upwards into the air, while two extended downward. The entrance to the castle, Kurogane noticed, seemed to be on the bottom.

Upon arriving at the castle, Kurogane was attacked by a group of armoured soldiers. The soldiers, seemingly out of nowhere, flew down from small suns that were hanging in the centres of the towers. The guards lunged towards Kurogane, and as he unsheathed his blade, a familiar voice chimed in.

"Halt, Celestial Knights! Sheath your weapons! This man is no intruder. He is a guest here at the Celestial Palace." The voice's owner became clear to Kurogane now. It was Princess Tomoyo.

"Tomoyo-hime!" Kurogane spoke, surprised.

"Indeed, that is my name. However, the Tomoyo you know is not of this dimension. I have had contact with the Tomoyo of Nihon for a long time now and she has many great things to say about you. Please come into my castle. Make yourself at home," she said in a soft and gentle voice which reminded Kurogane of his friend from another dimension.

Kurogane decided that it would be best to explain to Princess Tomoyo the situation he was in. This he did, as they entered the castle.

"So, you were brought to this dimension against your will and now you wish to find a way back to Clow Country. Do I have that right?" Tomoyo asked after Kurogane had explained his situation.

"Yes, that is correct, Your Highness" Kurogane said humbly.

Tomoyo giggled and said in a friendly voice, "You needn't call me 'Your Highness'. You can simply call me Tomoyo," she said with a smile. "Now, in regards to your situation, there exists in this world a sacred royal treasure that was used to offer up other worldly treasures to the moon, our god. It is capable of sending a soldier of high ranking to another dimension in order to find a gift worthy to present to the moon." Here, Tomoyo paused, and her face took on an expression of purest loathing. "However," she continued, "it was recently stolen by the Syndicate of the Sun, an obnoxious group of brigands whose base of operations is located in the sun, which lies in the centre of our world. If you can retrieve the Moon Lamp from the Syndicate of the Sun and return it to the royal palace, I will allow you to use it to leave this dimension; however, it cannot control the dimension to which you will be sent." After a few moments of silence, Tomoyo looked at Kurogane with a questioning look and asked him "Does this sound satisfactory?"

Kurogane bowed slightly. "Absolutely, Your Highness," (at this, Tomoyo raised an eyebrow) "Um, I mean, _Tomoyo."_ The woman smiled at him.

"Very well, then," she said, "I actually have another request of you, Kurogane. We have a new recruit, a soldier by the name of Ryuu, who is in desperate need of some training. If you were to take him with you on your quest for the Moon Lamp, he would learn much from you and would get some valuable training. It would be much appreciated."

Kurogane nodded, not wanting to disappoint Tomoyo in any way. "That would not be a problem. I would be happy to bring him with me."

At this, Tomoyo beamed and called seemingly to no one, "I call forth the novice knight. Come Ryuu," Suddenly, pieces of armour scattered around the room began to fly around the room and form up in front of Princess Tomoyo in the shape of a person. From within the armour, seemingly from nowhere, appeared Ryuu, now wearing the armour that was previously unoccupied.

"Hey there. So Tomoyo has summoned me to accompany you to find the Syndicate of the Sun?" he said, somehow knowing what they had been talking about, despite the fact that he had not been in the room when Tomoyo had been telling Kurogane about his impending mission.

"Actually, I am -," Kurogane began to tell Ryuu that he was here to help train him but Tomoyo shook her head to get him to stop.

Ryuu looked around for a second with slight confusion and quickly returned to a state of excitement. "All right, then! Let's get going!" he yelled with elation as the two of them left on their journey to find the fabled Moon Lamp.

To be continued...


	3. Battle Against the Storms and Winds

**Chapter 3** - Battle Against the Storms and Winds

"...and it's important to remember to always treat your sword as an extension of yourself," Kurogane was telling Ryuu. The two were travelling in the direction of the sun, where Princess Tomoyo had told them that the Syndicate's lair was located. Along the way, Kurogane had decided that since Ryuu had come along for the journey and needed training, it would be useful to give him some tips on sword fighting.

"All right, thanks!" Ryuu exclaimed. The young novice was hanging on Kurogane's every word and was clearly quite interested in everything he was being told. As they walked along, he continued asking questions of Kurogane about proper sword fighting techniques, which Kurogane answered with conviction: sword fighting was, of course, his specialty.

Suddenly, Kurogane heard a voice inside his head which sounded like the voice of Tomoyo. It said, "In order to reach the Syndicate of the Sun at their lair, you must take the Path of the Cosmos to the centre of the galaxy".

Completely confused, Kurogane jumped a little but tried to keep his surprise hidden from Ryuu, who was still staring at him with rapt attention. _How on earth is Tomoyo speaking to me when she isn't even here? _he wondered as he tried to pretend that nothing strange had just happened.

"I can speak telepathically, Kurogane," the voice said, "so that even though I am not in your presence I can still communicate with you. That is how Ryuu knew about his task before he was directly told about it."

Now slightly less confused, but no less intrigued, Kurogane grinned. _Impressive, _he thought to himself.

After a few moments of his questions of Kurogane not being answered, Ryuu poked Kurogane on the shoulder. "Kurogane?" Ryuu spoke, "You've been awfully quiet, is everything all right?"

Distracted, Kurogane shook his head to clear it. "Yes. Yes, I'm fine," he told the younger boy.

"All right, then," Ryuu said, satisfied.

"Apparently, we have to travel the Path of the Cosmos to the centre of this galaxy in order to reach the Syndicate of the Sun," Kurogane told Ryuu, who took his own turn to be confused. Arching an eyebrow, Ryuu stared at Kurogane once again in puzzlement.

"How do you know that?" he asked.

"Tomoyo told me," Kurogane said simply, shrugging his shoulders.

Ryuu obviously thought better than to ask for further details, for he kept quiet and continued walking along.

After a time, the two travellers came upon a large gate. The gate was quite tall and light blue in colour, made of iron bars. It was not especially tall, and could possibly be jumped over, but Ryuu and Kurogane could see that it was protected by some sort of barrier. On either side of the gate stood two guards. As they approached the gate, Kurogane could easily recognize who the guards were: King Ashura and King Yasha. Kurogane could hardly believe his eyes. _What are they doing in this world?_ he wondered.

"These two are not, of course, the King Yasha and King Ashura known to you. Do not forget, Kurogane, that people in different dimensions have the same soul but different lives altogether," Tomoyo's voice echoed in Kurogane's head.

_Of course,_ Kurogane said internally. Then he turned to the guards positioned in front of the gate and asked, "Who are you?"

Suddenly, one of the guards began to speak. "I am Yasha, Summoner of Storms, member of the Syndicate of the Sun."

Then the other guard spoke. "And I am Ashura, Wizard of the Winds, member of the Syndicate of the Sun."

All at once, both of the guards spoke. "And together, we are the guardians of the Celestial Gate!"

Yasha held out a hand. "We shall not let you pass!" she cried.

"You shall not reach the sun!" Ashura exclaimed. "For you shall not even make it past us!" he exclaimed as he lunged towards Ryuu and Kurogane.

"I know I haven't taught you much, but now is the time to put your sword skills to the test!" Kurogane said with a slight grin. "You ready, kid?"

"I'm ready!" Ryuu said excitedly. Kurogane flew high into the sky. As he was doing so, Yasha pointed two fingers towards him.

"Lightning, come forth!" he bellowed as a bolt of lightning propelled from his fingertips at Kurogane, who was not expecting such a power, and was unprepared for the attack. As it came closer, Ryuu jump up towards the attack and shot it back with the edge of his blade.

"Not bad, kid." Kurogane complimented, however subtly.

"Yeah! You owe me one!" Ryuu said with a smirk. The two of them landed and now Yasha was kneeling on the ground after being struck by her own attack. Ashura came out from behind Yasha's damaged body and extended his hand in front of his face.

"Tides of the air, blow forth!" Ashura cried as a whipping wind came from his outstretched hand. Kurogane and Ryuu stabbed their swords into the ground to stabilise themselves.

"What now?" Ryuu asked Kurogane over the howling gale force wind.

"Follow my lead, kid," Kurogane said as he stood to face the tremendous wind. He began to run, although with the gale he wasn't going fast enough to reach Ashura and Yasha before they got out of the way of his attack. Kurogane, still well away from his opponents, began to swing his sword. As he spun around, his back towards his enemies, Ryuu jumped onto Kurogane's blade and Kurogane slashed and sent Ryuu flying into the eye of the storm, Yasha and Ashura, and with one swift and decisive blow, they had vanquished both of their foes within seconds of each other.

"Heh, I guess we make a good team, eh kid?" Kuogane said with a sense of pride.

"Ha, yeah, I guess we do." Ryuu said, also proudly.

"Well let's get going, to the Sun, down the Path of the Cosmos." Kurogane said as they began their walk down the Path, headed to their final destination.

To be continued...

**Disclaimer: Neither Serahrose nor Ebony56 own Tsubasa Chronicle**

**Author's Note: Tomorrow, August 31, Serahrose is leaving town to go back to university for another semester, so writing further chapters of Dimensional Separation won't be possible for a while. Just wanted to let everyone know that we haven't disappeared off the face of the earth; we'll be back (with a vengeance! Ha ha) sometime in the next few months or so. Stick with us! Thanks everyone!**


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